Atoms and bonds are the stuff and the glue of all chemistry. Believe it or not it's just that simple in principle.

How to use the stuff and the glue or how we've come to understand how the stuff and the glue work together to give nature its richness in chemistry is why there are millions of pages filled with billions of words in chemical journals. The name of the blog reflects the fact that everyday substances fuel, glass and plastic , fabrics, metals, the air ,  water and food your life depends on are all chemical substances composed of atoms and bonds.

The stuff of chemistry are atoms. Atoms are composed of extremely tiny particles; protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons and neutrons have about the same mass(weight) and are about 1800 times heavier than electrons.

Protons and electrons are electrically charged, protons being arbitrarily assigned positive(+1) and electrons the equal and opposite (-1) charge.

Protons and uncharged neutrons reside in the nucleus which chemists treat as a single heavy positively charged particle. The number of protons Z determines the nuclear charge and is called the atomic number.We chemists leave it to physicists to study the internal structure of the nucleus.

Everyday matter wants to have an overall zero electric charge which is accomplished by matching the sum total of nuclear charges with an equal number of electrons. The much lighter electrons swarm in a cloud of charge around the nucleus in numbers that match the charge of the nucleus. The swarming is because opposite charges attract but also because the physical laws, quantum mechanics, that govern subatomic particles, do not allow the electrons to fall into the nucleus.

Introducing Atoms and Bonds

When you hear the word chemicals in popular culture or in a news story are the first things that come to mind negative such as toxic, pollution, carcinogen, or harmful? What if I put the word natural in front of the word chemical as in all natural chemicals? Does that suddenly change your mindset to think of safe. Can an all natural chemical containing product be less safe than an unnatural product?

For some time I've thought about putting down my thoughts when I hear the way chemicals are talked bout in popular and news media. I was a research chemist for about 20 years. My area of interest was molecular structure analysis. That is I was interested in how atoms and connect together to determine the shapes and sizes of different molecules.

Chemistry is a fascinating, but at times misunderstood, area of science. I want to help anyone who stumbles upon this personal journal better understand this important field. If you were turned off by the way chemistry was taught in your high school or college classes give me another chance to introduce you. For one there will be no tests. Homework is up to you.  My goal is to enlighten readers while improving my writing skills.